Billowing - an experiment in editing

Today's post is an experiment... rather than go out and snap shots to fit the subject, I decided to search my portfolio and take four not-so-good shots and try to improve them by converting to black and white or sepia.   

  I used to be the kind of photographer who wanted to show the world with an unfiltered eye, but have slowly come to realize that sometimes editing is necessary as what we capture isn't always what caught our eye in the first place.  

It is interesting to see just how different an image can look with a little change in perspective... just like life.

This shot was taken out the window of an airplane.  
I  liked the way the top of the clouds appeared wave-like, 
but the original image was a smear of tans and pale grays that 

were very unappealing.  This one is definitely an improvement 
on the original, though its still missing something... I do like the 
shadow being cast from clouds higher above, which 

wasn't as apparent in the untreated shot.

I really liked how the clouds looked across the sky in this shot, 
but felt it needed something in the foreground to give it interest.  
The original shot captured the tree in grays, which was lost in 
the image.  A change to sepia tones helped everything to 
stand out from one another, but it could still benefit from a 
bird or two in the sky to give it some life.

I love how this one turned out... the original had the sky in 
pale blues and grays while the trees were a darker gray, 
making everything a bit muddy.  Changing to sepia tones 
brought everything into balance, and yet made what was 
early morning clouds burning off with the rising sun take on 
the appearance of a menacing storm.  Love it. It is amazing 

how a little bit of editing gave this shot new life.

Loss of color helped this shot a lot, as the original had a 

pale sky and the flag looked rather washed out and

 faded in color.  The only thing I would do to improve this 

is to take time to smooth out the wrinkles in the flag itself 

as it looks as if it hasn't always been properly folded and 

stored. Which is a shame considering the building I shot 

this in front of.

1.